By The Numbers: UFC 165

UFC 165 was highlighted by the light heavyweight tilt between Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones. Tristen Critchfield breaks down the numbers.

Alexander Gustafsson took Jon Jones to brink of defeat, and the reigning light heavyweight king responded appropriately. Buoyed by resilience and a versatile toolbox of attacks, “Bones” captured a hard-fought unanimous decision against his Swedish opponent in the UFC 165 headliner at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Saturday night.

Unlike his previous five title defenses, this one was very much in doubt. Gustafsson landed solid combinations, resisted takedowns and never wilted in the face of his adversary’s diverse offensive arsenal. Still, it was not enough to wrest the belt from the champion. Though the bumps and bruises incurred during the competitive scrap sent the Jackson’s MMA product to the hospital, Jones’ reputation can only benefit from overcoming such a game and dangerous challenger. With a memorable bout comes plenty of opportunity for statistical review and reflection. Here is a by the numbers look at UFC 165, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.

244: Significant strikes landed by Jones and Gustafsson combined during their 25-minute encounter, a record for a UFC title fight. Jones landed 134 significant strikes, the second most by a light heavyweight in the Octagon, while Gustafsson’s 110 significant strikes landed rank fifth among all-time light heavyweight outputs.

23: Significant strikes by which Jones outlanded Gustafsson over the course of rounds one (28 to 19), two (26 to 15) and three (29 to 26). “Bones” only outlanded his opponent by one significant strike in rounds four (27 to 26) and five (24 to 24) combined.

113: Significant strikes by which Gustafsson outlanded opponents during his six-fight winning streak prior to UFC 165. While the Swede outlanded foes 227 to 114 during that time, he was outlanded by 24 significant strikes vs. Jones.

53: Strikes to the legs landed by Jones. By comparison, Gustafsson landed 15 leg strikes. “Bones” landed more leg strikes than his foe in every frame.

0: Ground strikes attempted by both fighters.

99: Strikes to the head and body landed by Gustafsson. Jones landed a combined 84 strikes to the head and body. Gustafsson landed more strikes to the head than his opponent in every round but the fourth. He also landed more strikes to the body than Jones in the final three rounds.

1: Takedown landed, in eight attempts, by Gustafsson. While not a spectacular success rate, the Swede became the first person to take Jones down in UFC competition. Additionally, the Alliance MMA product successfully defended 10 of Jones’ 11 takedown attempts.

6: Finishes by knockout, technical knockout or submission for Renan Barao, the second most for a bantamweight fighter competing under the Zuffa banner. Former WEC 135-pound ruler Brian Bowles owns six such victories. The interim bantamweight king became the third person in organization history to win via spinning back kick KO when he stopped Eddie Wineland with the move 35 seconds into round two.

1: D’arce choke submission victories by heavyweights in UFC history. Brendan Schaub became the first big man to secure the maneuver when he tapped out Matt Mitrione 4:06 into the first round of their featured bout.

5: Takedowns landed, in five attempts, by Francis Carmont in his lopsided unanimous decision triumph over Costa Philippou. In his previous three wins, Philippou had successfully thwarted 22 of 24 takedown attempts from his opponents.

74: Total strikes by which Carmont outlanded Philippou. “Limitless” controlled each frame, outlanding his foe 25 to 7 in round one, 27 to 2 in round two and 37 to 6 in round three.

14: Guard passes by Carmont. The Tristar Gym representative spent the majority of the middleweight scrap in top position, passing guard a total of 11 times in rounds two and three combined.

21: Consecutive wins to begin the professional career of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who made his debut in 2008. “The Eagle” is now 5-0 in the UFC after taking a decision from Strikeforce veteran Pat Healy.

4: Takedowns landed in six attempts for Wilson Reis, who upset Ivan Menjivar to win his Octagon debut. Reis also held a 33-to-29 advantage in significant strikes, including an 11-to-3 edge in the final frame.

1-4: Record for Menjivar in UFC and WEC bouts that go the distance. In those five bouts, “The Pride of El Salvador” has surrendered a total of 16 takedowns while landing none himself.

9: Victories via choke for Mitch Gagnon, who rendered Dustin Kimura unconscious with a guillotine 4:05 into the first round of their bantamweight encounter. Six of those submissions were guillotine chokes.

9: Professional bouts for Daniel Omielanczuk in 2012. The Polish heavyweight had his first fight of 2013 against Nandor Guelmino on Saturday, winning by knockout in the third frame. Omielanczuk was 9-0 in 2012, earning eight of those triumphs by submission.

ABOUT TRISTEN CRITCHFIELD

Based in Albuquerque, N.M., Tristen Critchfield owns a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of New Mexico. He began contributing to Sherdog.com in June 2010 and continued in that role until becoming a full-time member of Sherdog’s editorial staff in November 2011. Prior to his work with Sherdog, he nearly spent nearly six years working for the Albuquerque Journal, where, along with increasing the mixed martial arts presence in the newspaper, he also covered college football, college basketball and minor league baseball, as well as other duties.